MONAHAN (2024)

public sound art

MONAHAN a sound piece for curious ears

Commissioned by the City of Ottawa for the Monahan Wetlands, MONAHAN is a generative sound piece you listen to on your smartphone.  The work is accessed via a QR code installed on specially designed signposts, strategically placed along existing pathways. 

Each time you listen to MONAHAN you’ll hear a unique sound piece that lasts approximately 20 minutes, collaged by MONAHAN’s algorithm from 173 sound chapters, created by a diverse group of over 30 contributors.

You’ll hear everything from songs and poems to nature sounds, interviews and stories. There are stories about caterpillar rap battles, talking with trees, deep listening, the bee’s waggle dance, and butterfly ears. There are Turkish, Macedonian, English, Arabic, Greek, French, and Algonquin songs.  There are poems that speak of protest, translation, migration, the natural world, and wisdom. There are birds singing, insects calling, otters splashing, and dogs barking. There are grasses swooshing, icy snow crunching, water swishing, and branches creaking.

Although MONAHAN was created for a specific site, the artwork can be listened to anywhere (ideally outside).  MONAHAN lives on a dedicated website that is accessed by scanning a QR code or by navigating to www.monahanpublicart.ca.  You can continually return to MONAHAN knowing that each listening experience will bring you something different. You may hear a chapter you’ve heard before, but this time it’s next to something new.  Like the landscape that inspired this artwork, MONAHAN is always changing. 

Visit MONAHAN to find a full list of the amazing contributors, the production team, and the artwork!